


where there is hope, there is life

by joe_mama



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Ahsoka Tano Needs a Hug, Anakin Skywalker Needs a Hug, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Injury, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, Crash Landing, Drowning, Everyone Needs A Hug, Gen, Hiding Medical Issues, Hurt/Comfort, N E WAY, Obi-Wan Kenobi Needs a Hug, Temporary Character Death, Whump, come get yall juice, im not a sadist but writing drowning scenes are so fun, skdjskd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:21:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29647773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joe_mama/pseuds/joe_mama
Summary: In which the ship Anakin, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan are in crashes and things go downhill real quick.or,i put anakin through some of my favorite whump prompts and call it writing ;)
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 9
Kudos: 82





	where there is hope, there is life

"Master?"

"Yes, Ahsoka?"

Anakin's tone was sharp, shoulders tense, eyebrows drawn, and jaw clenched as he kept his gaze locked forward. Ahsoka bit her lip and glanced down at the screen embedded between buttons and switches of all shapes and sizes.

"The engines are offline," she said, eyes flicking to Anakin's face. He let out a stressed huff.

"Well, have you tried getting them back online?" He asked, not even sparing a glance her way as he leaned forward to flip several switches at the top of the control panel. They did nothing. 

"Yes, Master, I've already tried that," Ahsoka deadpanned. Obi-Wan stumbled into the cockpit, grasping onto the backrests of Ahsoka and Anakin's seats.

"Bad news, Master," Anakin said, raising an arm to press the distress button overhead. "We're going down."

"Not again, have you identified the planet we're crashing on?" Obi-Wan asked sitting in the seat behind the other two and strapping in. The ship entered the planet's atmosphere, speed increasing tenfold the second it got through. The three slammed into the backrests of their seats.

"Glee Anselm, I'm pretty sure," Anakin said, voice nearly drowned out by the engine, still rumbling in a feeble attempt to keep working.

A wide, dark ocean neared the ship - or, well, more like the other way around. Violent, swirling waves crashed into each other, white foam scattered across the surface of the water.

"Hold on to your seats," Anakin said, voice quieter this time. Ahsoka glanced at him before the ship stopped falling and her head flew forward.

* * *

The first thing Anakin was aware of were voices. They were muffled by white noise and seemed to be coming from all directions. Then there was a hand on his shoulder and his eyes snapped open. His neck throbbed in protest as he raised his head to meet familiar blue eyes.

"Ahsoka," he muttered.

"Master! Are you alright?" She asked, panic lacing her tone. Anakin nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm alright, what about you?" He asked as he rolled his shoulders and winced at his neck muscles pulsed with pain. The glass in front of him had a hole in it, seawater flowing inside the cockpit at a steady pace. The hole was surrounded by long, thick cracks in the glass, mere moments away from shattering and letting a wave of water inside and straight towards them. The water on the other side was almost pitch black, and if he focused he could see his own reflection in the glass staring back at him.

"I'm alright, Obi-Wan could be better." Anakin's head swiveled over his shoulder at that, eyes scanning Obi-Wan's frame. He seemed unharmed apart from a thin trickle of blood running down his temple.

"I'm fine, I just hit my head," Obi-Wan replied hastily. "Now let's get out of this thing before we sink along with it." Ahsoka and Obi-Wan began undoing their safety belts, but when Anakin looked down to do the same, he saw a thick shard of broken glass protruding from his thigh. And it was only then that he noticed the steady buzz of pain blooming from the wound. He sighed softly, reaching down and pulling it out without a moment of hesitation. The pain flared, but the wound wasn't too deep, and after a moment of inspection, Anakin came to the conclusion that it hadn't pierced an artery.

"Anakin, hurry up," Obi-Wan called out from behind him. 

"Right, gimmie a second." He fumbled for the safety belt's clasp, undoing it with bloody, shaky fingers and pulling it off. The water was almost up to knee-height and it was rising by the second. He climbed out of his seat and did his best to hold back a wince whenever he put too much weight on his bad leg. 

The three dragged their feet through the water and out of the cockpit. 

"How are we gonna get out?" Ahsoka asked. Anakin reached for his lightsaber and pressed on the ignition button. It sputtered and crackled softly, blue sparks flying out of where the blade would emerge from.

" _Kriff_ , it's soaked," he muttered. Obi-Wan pulled out his own only for a similar result. The two men turned their gaze to Ahsoka. Her lightsaber was no different. 

"Do you think we could pull the doors open?" Anakin asked, biting down hard on the inside of his cheek when the salty water rose above his wound. The salt did nothing to ease the brutal sting.

"No, they're far too heavy," Obi-Wan replied, stroking his beard, eyes flicking around the inside if the ship, searching for a possible exit. Anakin could feel Ahsoka's growing panic seeping through his bond with her, and in return he sent waves of reassurance and ease her way. She flashed a grateful smile up at him before the ship suddenly started tilting. The three barely managed to hold onto something stable before the ship settled and continued sinking, this time facing down.

The water was reaching their chests by now, and even though Obi-Wan and Ahsoka had let go of their holds and started swimming around, Anakin kept his hold on one of the pipes stuck to the wall. His leg was starting to go numb, and he was pretty sure the water surrounding it was stained with red. He thanked the Maker that it was too dark for Obi-Wan or Ahsoka to notice.

Ahsoka was spitting out any solution that came to mind, but they were all quickly shut down by Obi-Wan. The water had just made it to their necks when Anakin got an idea.

"Wait! What if we swim down into the cockpit, break a hole big enough in the glass, and swim out?" Ahsoka was quick to agree, and it only took Obi-Wan a quick moment to think about it before agreeing as well. Then, the water rose the last few inches, they all took in a deep breath, and they were submerged.

Now that he thought about it, maybe he shouldn't have proposed an idea that relied so much on leg power, because the short swim down into the cockpit was already enough to light his entire leg with pain. He watched as Obi-Wan and Ahsoka began kicking at the glass, breaking away small pieces from the main hole. He occasionally joined and put in a few kicks with his good leg, but every movement, no matter how infinitesimal, sent shockwaves of hot, stinging pain to his wound.

It was when his lungs were beginning to ache that Obi-Wan landed one last well-aimed kick to the glass and the hole grew. Ahsoka swan through with ease, quickly making her way up to the surface and out of their sight. When Obi-Wan turned to let Anakin through, his expression shifted from urgency to that of concern.

Anakin met his eyes for a moment, and quickly pulled his gaze away as guilt flooded his gut like the sea had flooded the ship. He swam forward and out of the ship, waiting to make sure Obi-Wan was out as well before finally sticking his head put from underwater. He gasped and gulped down air, wincing at every kick his injured leg made to keep him afloat.

Maybe the wound was deeper than he had originally thought.

"Anakin," Obi-Wan's voice came, loud and steady, yet laced with worry. "Are you alright?"

Before Anakin could make up some excuse as to explain his current condition, Ahsoka cried out, "get under!"

He saw her head duck and disappear underwater before he turned and was met with huge tidal wave rushing towards him. The water loomed overhead, and at the speed it was coming towards him, he didn't have time to swim underneath it, so, he was hit.

The water slammed against him with so much force for a moment he thought he'd been struck by an aquatic creature that had also gotten caught in the wave. Everything happened so fast he didn't manage to breathe in before he was thrust underwater, body flailing, arms extended, hoping he'd latch onto Obi-Wan or _anything_ really, that he could use as leverage. But he couldn't tell which way was up or down nor how deep he was. He squeezed his eyes shut, chest constricting at the lack of oxygen. 

Panic came like the very tidal wave that put him in his current situation, making him want to cry and scream and call for help and do anything to save himself. His instinctual drive for survival kicked in and before he knew it, he had sucked in a lungful of air. Cold, horrible despair clawed up his limbs, but he hadn't the energy to even try and fight his way out of the water. He subconsciously let out something similar to a cough, his body attempting to expel the water from his lungs, but it only worsened his situation, because eventually he needed to inhale again, and no matter how much he fought against it, he inhaled once more. 

His vision was tainted with dark spots, and for a moment he relished in the thought of passing out and getting everything over with, but then he imagined Obi-Wan and Ahsoka, finding his body washed up on the shore of whatever piece of land they'd manage to find. And he imagined Ahsoka's horrified expression and Obi-Wan's grief-stricken eyes and-

His body shut down moments before his mind did.

* * *

" _Anakin!_ " Obi-Wan cried, eyes flicking around the water surrounding him, hoping, praying he'd see Anakin's dark robes somewhere in the depth of the sea. But the ocean offered no mercy that day, and they'd been searching for about twenty minutes before they saw a flash of black in the deep, navy blue water.

Obi-Wan had swam down to his former apprentice, ignored the blue tint to his lips and fingers and dragged him up to the surface. Thankfully, they weren't too far from a small, sandy island and it didn't take them long to drag Anakin's -heavy, too heavy and limp and cold and- trembling body to shore.

They knelt down on either side of him and Obi-Wan pressed two fingers to the underside of his jaw.

And he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Obi-Wan has felt fear before. That's the life of a Jedi, after all. He'd felt the bitter, sharp concern that stabbed at his chest whenever he saw one of his men or friends get injured on a battlefield. He'd felt that hollow, heavy anxiety that weighed down in his stomach while waiting outside a loved one's room at the Halls of Healing. But this, this was different. This was a debilitating, paralyzing _horror_ that overtook every inch of skin and muscle and every individual cell in his body that he hadn't felt since he'd watched Maul drive his lightsaber into the gut of his Master all those years ago on Naboo. This left his hands trembling and his mouth dry and his gut lurching in despair.

He snapped out of it almost instantly, moving a shaky hand over Anakin's nose and waiting. Again.

Nothing.

"Master?" Ahsoka's quiet voice murmured from before him. "Is he-?"

"He's gonna be _fine_ , Ahsoka," he snapped, and Ahsoka flinched. He made a mental note to apologize later.

But right now, Anakin _needed him_ , and he would do anything in his power to help his brother.

He placed both hands on top of each other on Anakin's sternum and locked his fingers together, taking a deep breath to clear his mind before swiftly pushing down. He kept a steady rythym, eyes glued to Anakin's too-pale face. He jolted slightly with every compression, but he did not move. After a short moment, Obi-Wan shifted and leaned down to pinch Anakin's nose shut and breathe into his mouth. His chest rose, fell, and stilled.

"Come on, Anakin, stay with us," he muttered, continuing his compressions. He felt something _snap_ under his palm but he ignored it and kept going. He _had_ to keep going. He was _not_ going to lose Anakin, not today, and not any day in the near future. He would get to grow old and continue to poke fun at Obi-Wan and he'd keep giving him grey hairs and he'd get to watch Ahsoka become a Jedi Knight and he'd get to _live_.

It was a seemingly endless cycle. Compressions, rescue breaths, compressions, rescue breaths, compressions, rescue breaths.

Ahsoka cried, and Obi-Wan felt like doing so, too.

Anakin didn't move.

Obi-Wan's arms were beginning to get sore and his compressions were getting weaker with every passing second. Yet he pushed through, and kept the cycle going. He could never forgive himself if he stopped. As long as there was hope, there was life.

Obi-Wan cried along with Ahsoka.

"Anakin, _please_."

He continued.

Ahsoka grabbed Anakin's hand and held it tightly between her own.

The Force felt awfully empty, devoid of all the life and joy and peace and balance it had once had, for the Force had lost its Son.

And then, Anakin coughed.

And Obi-Wan cried as he held Anakin on his side so he wouldn't choke on the water he was vomiting.

Anakin passed out right when a Republic ship entered the planet's atmosphere.

* * *

"When were you planning on telling us about the wound on your thigh?" Obi-Wan asked, exasperated. Anakin smiled dazedly.

"I dunno," he slurred, unfocused eyes wandering around the white room. "Thought it was nothin'."

Obi-Wan chuckled, and although his heart still ached at the state of the boy he'd raised, he'd also never been more relieved. Hospitalized was better than dead, and he'd take what he could get.

"Where's Padme?"

"Senator Amidala is on her way here, I believe."

Anakin nodded slowly, eyes slipping shut. He hummed softly, followed by a murmur. Obi-Wan smiled.

"What was that?" He asked softly.

"Love you."

And Obi-Wan didn't even need to say it back, because the overwhelming flow of admiration and trust emanating from Anakin's side of their bond was more than enough to express that he _knew_.

Anakin knew Obi-Wan loved him. And he wasn't wrong.

**Author's Note:**

> comments are highly appreciated! every comment equals one boo-boo kiss on anakin's forehead :)
> 
> ***
> 
> twitter: @GrogusToe


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